Email disclaimer laws in Canada

June 2, 2015

Last week, we looked at the various email disclaimers that are in place in the United States. Continuing with this theme, we’ve decided to look at some of the other countries/territories that have disclaiming laws and how important each law is. We also want to stress the importance of email archiving when it comes to complying with these laws.

Today, we’ll look at Canada, which has some of the strictest laws in the world, especially when it comes to spam emails.

Canadian Anti-Spam Law

Canada’s Anti-Spam Law (CASL) requires businesses to obtain either express “opt-in” or implied consent to send commercial electronic messages (CEMs) to any recipient. This can be anything from email, to SMS and social media messages, meaning that this legislation is far broader than others such as CAN-SPAM which are just targeted at emails. In addition, all electronic marketing messages need to clearly identify the sender, include the sender’s contact information and provide an unsubscribe mechanism, unless fully exempted from the Act. It came into effect on 1 July 2014.

The need for Email Disclaimers
The larger your organization is, the harder it is to enforce a CASL email policy for all email messages. You need to ensure that all email signatures contain information required by CASL and include appropriate opt-out hyperlinks for unsubscribing. It is the responsibility of all organizations to ensure that each employee has a compliant email disclaimer added to their email signature and the best way to do this is to centrally manage this process.

Further information

Canadian Privacy Act

Applicable to anyone who is storing personal data, the Canadian Privacy Act was established to protect personal information collected by the Canadian government. It gives individuals the right to access this information and governs how private sector organizations collect, use and disclose personal details in the course of commercial business.

The need for an Archiver
In order to comply with the Canadian Privacy Act, a law which guarantees individuals access to public records kept by government agencies, an efficient archiving system for compliance is required. Email is a public record, just like any other document, so it is vital that a system is in place to control the increasing amount of email data with the ability to quickly respond to compliance requests.

Further information

PIPEDA (Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act)

The Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act is a Canadian law designed to ensure that personal information collected by businesses will be kept secure and will only be collected, used and given out under a strict set of circumstances. In addition, the Act contains various provisions to facilitate the use of electronic documents. PIPEDA incorporates and makes mandatory provisions of the Canadian Standards Association‘s Model Code for the Protection of Personal Information, developed in 1995.

The need for an Archiver
In order to comply with PIPEDA, an effective email archiving system for compliance is a must. Email is a public record, just like any other document, so it is vital that a system is in place to control the increasing amount of email data with the ability to quickly respond to compliance requests.

Further information

In the end, if you are based in Canada or deal with Canadian businesses, you need to know the details of these disclaiming laws in detail. However, the idea of having to archive all emails because of them can seem a bit galling. However, email archiving doesn’t have to break the bank if you choose the right solution. That’s why Exclaimer Mail Archiver brings all the benefits of email archiving at a sensible price for all organizations.